The diary of the 2006 challenge - around the UK.

15-06-06: DAY SIX.
Fenland to home! The guys got to the airfield at 9:30 this morning
to check and fuel the aircraft for today's trip, only to find Tony's starter
motor hanging off. Two of the main bolts that hold the starter on had worked
loose and this in turn had loosened the main starter cog. Luckily
the mechanics at Fenland helps out and the team were ready. Bumpy
bumpy, the hot summer sun combined with the strong winds meant a high workload
for the guys. Less than an hour later the team landed at Duxford.
'Where do you want me to park' Les said to the air traffic controller, 'Next
to the B17' came the reply. Our little Microlights were dwarfed when parked
next to the 'Memphis Belle'! After a good look around the museum
the guys were back in the air. Just after take off Les's rev counter stopped
working, he put his hand behind the dashboard and felt a small electric
shock, and the dial sprang to life. Unfortunately it only worked whilst
Les was getting an electric shock! As the engine was running smoothly
Les thought that it must be a loose connector on the dial, so we would
keep on going. After one and a half hours of rough turbulent sky the
guys called the home airfield on the radio 'Deanland traffic Golf Bravo
Zulu November Hotel presently 5 miles north of the field at 1,800 feet will
be joining downwind 06 left hand Deanland' It was the happiest sounding
radio call you'll ever hear! On the ground there was family, banners
and champagne ready to greet the team.

The guys are going over the GPS tracking
information tonight in preparation for the Guinness Book of records.
Unfortunately because of the rough weather throughout the trip the guys
could not attempt the formation flying record, only the duration and distance
flown records. So they will have a go at it NEXT MONTH. The team also
plan to fly across the channel the following month.

Dave will be stating
his training for his pilots licence in 2 weeks time ready for our 2007 challenge
'Africa and back in one week' . This web site will still be updated with
his progress, the formation flying record attempt, the cross channel attempt,
and of course the run-up to AFRICA! stay tuned.

Dave Getting ready to pre-flight
the plane with the 'Memphis Belle' in the background.

14-06-06: DAY FIVE. Fife to Fenland!
The team woke up to nasty sky (see pic below) but were hoping for improvement
during the day. The Forth of Fithe crossing went very smoothly until reaching
the mainland again where the guys found the cloud base to be 700 feet...a
bit of a problem because the mountains climb to 2500 feet. So they decided
to fly around the coast at 600 feet 1 mile out to sea. They actually calculated
that at that height they could have done some fly fishing! After 45 minutes,
the weather cleared and they were able to climb to 3000 feet and then diverted
to Eshott to refuel. The problem with flying at such a low height out at
sea is being able to glide to land in the event of an engine failure...but
the challenge was to get around Britain in as shorter time as possible,
and they knew that some of the challenge would be dangerous.

The guys were hoping for lunch at this
point, but Eshott only had a vending and coffee machine...so that was that.
Whilst Dave played with the clubhouse dog (fetch) he managed to throw the
toy into the car park and hit somebody's car with the rubber toy! That was
the teams Q to leave. And with that it was "clear prop", and off they went.

The next route was south again along
the east coast towards Beverly (N.Yorks). A nice airfield but no food! So
a chocolate bar and packet of crisps was the best they could do. It would
be great to say that leg went smoothly...but...they had a near miss at 3000
feet whilst flying in formation. As Tony climbed up to 3000+ feet his aircraft
popped up directly in front of Les & Dave missing each other by about 20
feet.

Before taking off they noticed military
training in the area by the roar of afterburners. After take off all eyes
were directed out of the windows for any military traffic in there are.
Sure enough, 2 Euro fighters and 1 F14 Tomcat were practicing low level
bombing and dogfighting along their route. These aircraft were flying around
just under the speed of sound (600 knots) and at times were at the same
altitude as the team! Very close.

The last destination of the day was Fenland,
Norfolk. The team arrived at about 18:30 to a very helpful young lady in
the flying club, who helped in finding accommodation. The team also met
Dave Almay, who sold the first Rans aircraft to Les, and who has just taken
over supplying parts and distribution for all those aircraft in the UK.

And finally the team would like to thank
Chris at the Sycamore Farm Hotel for putting them up for the night, picking
them up from the airport and driving them to and from a pub for dinner.

The coast of Scotland at 500 feet.
The east coast (look out for the RAF).

Fife. Look at the lovely clouds.

13-06-06: DAY FOUR. Scotland.
After a painful wait after yesterdays weather, today the guys set of for
Fife! The manager of Caernarfon Airport was kind enough to waiver the landing
fees to help the named charities which was greatly appreciated. A nice scenic
flight at first along the north coast of Wales, and then a more involved
flight under Liverpool's airspace (across the Mersey), through Warton military,
Blackpool and onto Tarn Farm. Tarns grass runway in use was 300 metres!
And then the sheep had to be moved. Both aircraft had to be setup on finals
with full flap...airspeed just above the stall, and a touch down on the
numbers to stop before the hedge! At this point the team would like to thank
John Potts and Geoff at Tarn Farm for arranging fuel cans and a cup of tea.
The team even got a tour of the hangars, looking at all the aircraft and
basically doing what all pilots (and wannabies) do. Aeroplane chat.

The second leg was from Tarn on towards
Carlisle airport. Following the M6 motorway to the north made for easy navigation,
however guys were unaware that the army had just begun a 4 week training
program at Carlisle, and security was tight. Army tents, military jets,
helicopters and snipers in the undergrowth. The Scottish skies were
dull and turbulent but the guys kept on going. Tonight the guys are
in Fife. Tomorrow the plan is to continue south (weather permitting).

Tarn Farm.

Scottish murky skies.
Them boys LOVE the cake!

12-06-06: DAY THREE. Rain stopped play!
The Guys woke up to cloud and rain, so Les called Mary at work and arranged
a hire car which was to be delivered to the hotel within the hour. After
a couple of hours the car still had not turned up so they ended up on a
bus for one and a half hours, and at the wrong train station! (not their
fault, it was down to National car hire) they finally got the car at 3pm.
Once in the car they put it to its best use and tracked down the local KFC
and all had a load up, the planes will struggle off the runway tomorrow.
After lunch they all went to the airfield to put some PTFE tape around one
of Les's leaking nuts (on the plane not les, at his age he expects leaking
nuts!). They all went to the pub this evening for yet another meal, afterwards
Tony called John Potts at Tarn farm airfield and although they don't
keep any fuel there the top bloke John is picking up 40ltrs in cans, he
wont be there tomorrow but he is trusting the team to leave the cash.
He has also said to help themselves to any tea, coffee etc. A huge thanks
to John. The team settled down to watch Big Brother and but thought that
the Welsh TV didn't have it... It was on but an hour later than normal.
The team are all looking forward to getting back in the air tomorrow.

11-06-06: DAY TWO. Dave discovered
that Les`s snoring was louder than the engine! And that's saying something!!
After a healthy fry up at Bodmin the guys refuelled, got ready, and set
of on the 1st leg. The tops of the clouds were 4500, so 5000 saw them clear,
and due to a fantastic tailwind, the team arrived at Eaglescott within 35
minutes. G-NH started experiencing a water temperature problem again, so
the guys had to wait for somebody to help with an alan key to bleed the
water system...which took another hour. Luckily Les`s life jacket had been
left in the car at Deanland (typical) so Tony and Dave donned there lifesavers,
and Les went without. Needless to say he crossed the Bristol channel at
breakneck speed, leaving Tony behind! However, they did have a tailwind
of 55mph, and both aircraft crossed the channel at 115mph (ground speed).
Then they stopped at Pembry (South Wales) which was very pretty...but they
had no fuel! So a deal was arranged where by Les would take one of the airfield
reps up for a quick spin around the block in return for some fuel (20 litres
to be exact) which they siphoned out of an old tractor! And then came the
news that they didn't have any steps. So an ingenious procedure was used.
Les on all fours (well, it was Wales!) and Tony standing on his back!!!
The video footage is priceless. Its funny, but Les still has Tony's shoe
imprints on his back! After all that, the team suspect that the fuel was
contaminated with water.

The next leg sent the guys over the hills
along the west coast of Wales heading north. The plan was to climb to 6000
feet to get the benefit of the tailwind which had helped them over the Bristol
Channel (120mph again!) The scenery was awesome. At one point Les managed
to fly directly behind Tony's aircraft, and experienced the full force
of a streak shadows wake turbulence. A very nervous Les was then heard on
the radio disclaiming that all his flying controls had been rendered useless,
and was being thrown around like a rag doll.

The final stop for the day was insight
(Caernarfon Airpark) and in the distance was Mount Snowden. The manager
of Caernarfon was kind enough to waiver the landing fees and nights stop
over costs. The guys then helped themselves to a cup of tea and a nice slice
of cream cake...they love the cake! Tomorrow the guys have a lot to do...the
planes need some service work in the morning, then have to stop in at Blackpool
and Glasgow/Prestwick airports which then takes them well into Scotland.

Finally, Les has a room for himself for
the evening so his snoring wont keep the other two awake all night! Sweet
Dreams!!

Dave trying to get some sleep.
Teddykins goes for a spin in Pembry.

North Wales.

Here is a shot taken from the up-coming DVD of the "Pembry step
ladder" !

10-06-06: DAY ONE. The guys
got to the airfield at 5am to fix Tony's plane. After an hour the choke
was fixed and it was time to pack up and get ready. There was quite a few
members of the teams family and friends at the airport to see the guys head
off. After changing Les's spark plugs the guys had a problem with
the new Rans, the whole ignition system was dead. Les disconnected the wires
and reconnected them, and it worked. The Rans fired up and the
team was off. Les and Dave took off first, taking off at full
power. After the Rans has climbed a couple of hundred feet Les let go of
the throttle and adjusted the flaps. As he did this the engine went quiet.
Pointing the nose down and getting ready for an emergency landing Les found
that it was just the throttle leaver had jumped back to tick over position
(the leaver had been stiff so he had adjusted it to make it easier on the
last visit) Les pushed the throttle back to power and the guys carried on
climbing, albeit with a shocked expression on there faces.
Once in the cruise the guys benefited from a 30mph tail wind. After
only an hour they were already at there first planned stop. Because
they still had plenty of fuel, the decision was to push on and keep going
to Bodmin. 2.5 hours later they were well on their way. Tony
adjusted the trim on his plane, and as he did this the fuel gauge changed
to read the equivalent of only 20 minuets left. No time for discussions
we needed fuel urgently. The team had just passed Exeter International
Airport, so Tony went straight in, Les orbited around Exeter and followed
Tony in 5 minuets later. After paying for the landing the supervisor
came down from the control tower. He wasn't very impressed. Because
Exeter is a large airport they like to have plenty of warning of your arrival
so they can fit you in for a landing time slot because of the large aircraft
using the airport. Tony admitted it has his fault but the supervisor
gave Les the telling off! (maybe it coz he looks old and should have known
better) explaining that he should have given them more warning and told
them his altitude and position (which he did) on the radio. Les thought
it's not worth arguing and they left the tower with a smirk on Dave and
Tony's faces. After a quick re-fuel of the team the guys went to re-fuel
the planes. Dave and Tony waited by the security gate entrance for
Les, and got told off by the security guards for standing near the security
gate! The guys felt it was time to leave, so they fuelled up and set
off. Exeter gave them Radar tracking along the coast. The guys
got permission to change to the microlight radio frequency and they were
off again as per usual. Tonight the team are on schedule and are staying
at Bodmin. The taxi is booked for 7:30 and Les has nearly lost his
voice.... Hopefully a good night sleep will help.

Filming the start at Deanland.
Bodmin end of day one.

Portsmouth harbor.

09-06-06: Tony was out at the airfield
today. He's got problems with his plane. One problem is with interference
on the radio and the other is that it's not starting (quite a big problem!),
It could be the choke? so the whole team is planning to get to the airfield
at 5am to fix it. We have moved the start time to 10:00 to give the
guys some time to can get it sorted. The last few weeks have been
like a rollercoaster. Lets keep our fingers crossed.